If justice delayed is justice denied, then Colorado cake artist Jack Phillips has been denied justice for far too long. Twelve years too long.
On Tuesday, June 18, 2024, the Colorado Supreme Court heard oral arguments in Masterpiece Cakeshop v. Scardina. At issue is whether the state of Colorado can force Phillips to create a custom-designed cake — pink on the inside and blue on the outside — to celebrate and symbolize an impossible “gender transition” from male to female.
The case is also known as Masterpiece III since this is Phillips’ third attempt to preserve his First Amendment rights in the American judicial system. On the very day the U.S. Supreme Court announced it would take up Phillips’ first case, a transgender-identifying activist attorney named Autumn Scardina called Phillips’ shop and requested he create the custom pink-and-blue cake. As a Christian who believes God created human beings male and female, Phillips politely declined. This led Scardina to file a civil lawsuit (Masterpiece III) against Phillips.
Jack Phillips serves all people. He will gladly sell anything in his shop to anyone — including people who identify as LGBT.
But what he won’t do is propagate messages that violate his core beliefs. That’s why he’s also refused to create custom cakes celebrating Halloween or cakes advocating for the use of marijuana. He’s even declined to create cakes that denigrate people, including people who identify as LGBT.
But that hasn’t stopped some, including Scardina, from disparaging and persecuting Phillips. Scardina has called
